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Lawrence Gallo
Lawrence "Larry" Gallo (Born November 23, 1927 - died 1968), was a real man and a natural born leader who died much to soon. Early Life and Criminal Career He was born in Red Hook, Brooklyn. His parents were Umberto and Mary Gallo. His two brothers were Albert Gallo and "Crazy Joe" Joey Gallo. Eventually, Larry and Joey both became inducted members of the Profaci family. However, Albert never achieved this status in the family. Although Joey was the most explosive and strong-willed of the brothers, Larry was the organized thoughful one who actually ran the crew. By the end of the 1950s, the Gallo brothers had become very dissatisfied with Joe Profaci's leadership. Profaci was maintaining a lavish lifestyle by severely taxing everyone else in his crime family. In 1959, Profaci ordered the Gallos to murder fellow crew member Frank Abbatemarco, who ran lucrative bookmaking and loan sharking operations. Abbatemarco owed Profaci $50,000 in unpaid tribute and refused pay it out of protest. On November 4, 1959, Abbatemarco was shot inside a tavern in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn. Some accounts state that Albert, his brothers and Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioelli killed Abbatemarco. Other reports say that Joey Gallo refused the assignment on behalf of the crew. After Abbatemarco's murder, Profaci took his rackets, leaving nothing for the Gallo crew. Attempted hit and First Colombo War The Gallo crew now turned against Profaci. In February 1961, the Gallos kidnapped underboss Joseph Magliocco and capos Frank Profaci, John Scimone and Joseph Colombo. Profaci was a target also, but he managed to escape capture. To obtain their release, Profaci negotiated an agreement with the Gallos. However, after the hostage were released, Profaci reneged on the agreement and went after the Gallo crew. On August 20, 1961, Scimone, now a Profaci loyalist, lured Larry Gallo into meeting him at a lounge, where several men, including Persico, tried to kill him. This was the start of the First Colombo War. On December 21, 1961, Joey Gallo was sentenced seven to fourteen years in prison, but the conflict continued. In June 1962, Profaci died of cancer and the family leadership passed to Magliocco. On January 29, 1962, Albert Gallo and six other crew members rescued six small children from an apartment filled with smoke by a mattress fire. None of the children or mobsters were injured. In 1963, with the conviction of two more Gallo crew members, both sides accepted a peace agreement brokered by Patriarca crime family boss Raymond Patriarca. The first war was over. Later Years and Death On January 8, 1965, Albert and Larry Gallo, along with 13 other crew members, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and were sentenced to six months in prison. In 1966, New York City's Youth Board requested the Gallo's to help them lower racial tensions between white and African-American youths in the East New York and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn. At one meeting with white youths, Albert Gallo sent a teenager sprawling for using a racial epithet. Brooklyn District Attorney Aaron Koota protested the use of the Gallo brothers, but New York Mayor John V. Lindsay defended the Youth Board's actions. In May 1968, Larry Gallo died of cancer. Joe Gallo took control of the Gallo crew from prison. Category:Colombo Crime Family Category:Gallo Gang